Treatment of sausages



Dec. 13, 1938. R w REE-VE 2,140,166

TREATMENT OF sAUsAGEs Filed Dec. 23, 1936 111 muniti-kf ./Fex ZV. eer/e INVENToR I ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 13, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TREATMENT F SAUSAGES Application December 23, 1936, Serial No. 117,404

4 Claims. l (Cl. 99-1'75) This invention relates to the treatment of sausages. f

One of the objects of the invention is to tender sausage casings.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method for tendering the casing of a stuffed sausage without the use of chemicals.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the description and claims which follow.

lo Suitable apparatus for carrying out the invention is depicted in the drawing.

Figure 1 is a perspective View of a steam retort for treating sausage.-

Figure 2 is a side view, partly in section, of the retort shown in Figure l. Y

Retort chamber i is mounted upon frame 2 and is provided with cover 3 held in place by swivel bolts #i and nuts 5. Water may be supplied into chamber through perforated headers 6 and '11,

2o being introduced through pipe 8, entering the retort at 9 and communicating with header 6 through T l0 and through pipe It to header l.

Steam is supplied through pipe l2, discharging into the retort. Steam may be exhausted through 25 pipe I3. Riser M is provided with safety valve i5 and steam gauge it mounted upon pipe l'i connecting with riser it at i8. Liquids are Withdrawn from the retort at I9 through drain pipe 20, provided with valve 2i. The temperature 3o within the retort may be directly read on a thermometer 22 inserted in opening 23.

Pipe 8 is provided with valve 2t. Pipe l2 is provided with valve 25. Pipe i3 is provided with valve 26.

35 In carrying out the present invention, retort i is loaded with stuffed sausage, for example, frankfurters. Cover 3 is locked in place and steam admitted through pipe l2. When the desired temperature and pressure have been obtained, the

4o pressure may be relieved. Cold Water may be introduced through headers t and 'l by opening valve 211.

Different methods have been proposed from time to time for tendering sausage casings, par- 45 ticularly frankfurter casings. Two types of casings are normally employed in the manufacture of frankfurters; sheep casings, which are tender and readily eaten, and hog casings, which are normally tough and often diicult to masticate.

50 The tenderness of sheep casings renders them high in price and greatly increases the cost of frankfurters withl which sheep casings are employed. It is desirable, therefore, to provide a tender hog casing.

The present invention contemplates exploding the casing after it is stuffed with sausage meat -without any effect on the meat product in the leased very suddenly so that the moisture in the casing suddenly expands by evaporation to parl5 tially break or rupture the tissue of the casing. The desired amount of tendering may be secured by control of the variables of steam pressure, time of application of steam pressure, and time of releasing of steam pressure. In addition to tendering the casings, the process plumps the frankfurters and gives them an attractive appearance, eliminating wrinkles, and developing a smoother, more velvety appearance than is the case with frankfurters not treated in accordance with the present invention.

The higher the steam pressure used, the shorter will be the time required to tender the casing. When the steam pressure is-high, for example 75 to 125 pounds per square inch'and the time 30 of application is short, for example 3 to 10 seconds, there will be little penetration of heat into the sausage. When the sausage does not heat, it does not expand and, consequently, the casings do not burst. However, if the steam pressure used is low, the time required to tender the casings is excessive with the result that the heat penetrates through the casing into the sausage y meat, causing the sausage meat to expand upon release of pressure with consequent bursting of the casing.

Slow release oi steam pressure has the same eiect as long application of heat and for the same reasons results in bursting the casings.

It is mpracticable to tender the casings by an explosion process before stuiiing because such treatment so weakens the membrane as to bring about increased breakage during stumng.

The present invention permits the use of a relatively tough, strong casing during the stuilng operations, keeping the casing' breakage during stuiing at a minimum and yet permits theu production of a tender casing on the sausage by employment of the explosion principle, result- In practice, I have found ing in a novel sausage `product having ah exploded tender casing.

that satisfactory results are secured by building the steam pressure up to pounds per square inch in ten seconds, holding at that vpressure for ten seconds and dropping to atmospheric pressure in ten seconds. At pounds pressure I have secured good results by a twelve second process involving ve seconds to build up pressure, two seconds of application of the peak pressure and ve seconds to return to atmospheric pressure.

It will be understood that details of the present invention may be varied at will without departingl fromthe spirit of the invention as dened in the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. The method of tendering casings on sausages which comprises mechanically partially rupturing the tissue of the casing membrane by treatment With an expansible fluid.

2. The method of tendering casings on sausages which comprises subjecting the sausage casings to an expansible uid at high temperatures under pressure suicient `to heat the casings without appreciably heating the sausage meat, and then partially rupturing the tissue of the casing membrane by suddenly releasing the pressure.

3. The method of tendering hog casings which comprises stufng the kcasings with sausage meat, subjecting the stuffed casings to the action of steam under pressure sufficient to quickly raise the temperature of the casings without appreciably heating the sausage meat, and then sudkdenly releasing the pressure.

4. The method of treating frankfurters which comprises subjecting the frankfurters to the action of steam at pressures of 75 pounds to 125 pounds per square inch for a period of from 2 seconds to 10 seconds, vand suddenly releasing the pressure to weaken the casing membrane.l

REX W. REEVE. 

